WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
DEPT. OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
The John W. Sawyer Prize in Computer Science
In 1993, the department of mathematics and computer science established the John W. Sawyer Prize in Computer Science, which is awarded in his honor annually to a senior.
Dr. John Wesley “Jack” Sawyer received his bachelor’s degree (1938) and MA (1941) from Wake Forest, and his Ph.D from the University of Missouri in 1951. He returned to Wake Forest to join the Math department in 1956, the year Wake moved to Winston-Salem. His consulting work for Reynolds Tobacco beginning in the 1950‘s led to some of the earlier practical applications of operations research in business, which in turn led to his induction as a Fellow AAAS. He was instrumental in bringing computing and computer instruction into the Wake Forest curriculum. He was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame for his service to Wake Forest Athletics and to intercollegiate athletics in general. He was Faculty Athletic Representative to the NCAA for Wake Forest for 28 years, and served as President of the Atlantic Coast Conference four times and as an NCAA vice-president after extensive work on multiple NCAA committees. Jack Sawyer died in his sleep on July 13, 2013. He was 95.
Dr. John Wesley “Jack” Sawyer
Recipients of the John W. Sawyer Prize
1994
Michael Byron Graham
1995
Boyanka Atanassova Radenska
1996
No Recipient
1997
Brian Lawrence Dimmick
1998
David Theon Marshburn, II
1999
Keeley Patricia Chorn
2000
Justin Andrew Hayes
2001
Jason Paul Rajtar
2002
Mason Fox Matthews
2003
Patrick Stuart Wheeler
2004
Jeffrey Stephen Shirley
2005
Joseph Victor Antrosio
2006
Emily Nicole Leonhardt
2007
Todd Andrew Ramsey
2008
Patrick James Kruse
2009
Thomas Andrew Davis
2010
Matthew Ryan Steen
2011
Rachel Ann Black
2012
Richard Gabriel Freedman
2013
Gavin Douglas Borg
2014
Benjamin Maxwell Walsh
2015
Riana Jordan Freedman
2016
Shelby Lena Lockhart
2017
Matthew Robert McNiece
2018
Sajant Anand and Ruidan Li
2019
Katherine Juarez
2020
Emily Luo